Spanish Tortas De Aceite Recipes

SPANISH OLIVE OIL TORTAS ~ TORTAS DE ACEITE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C).
• In a large bowl, stir together 1 1/2 cups flour (180 g), salt, and fennel seeds.
• Pour the oil into a measuring cup or another bowl containing the water, stir in the sugar and yeast, and mix well. Let rest for a few minutes until it becomes frothy.
• Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and slowly pour in the yeast mixture, using a fork to gradually mix in the flour. When everything starts to come together, use your hands to mix it into a smooth dough. If the dough is sticky as heck, add some or all of the remaining 1 cup flour, a little at a time, until a smooth dough forms. It's quite possible you'll need to add at least 1/2 cup and as much as the full 1 cup.
• Lightly oil 2 large baking sheets and then dust them with confectioners' sugar. Lightly flour a clean work surface and a rolling pin with all-purpose flour.
• Divide your dough into 12 equal-size pieces and shape each one into a ball. Roll out each ball until it's almost translucent and somewhere around 4 inches in diameter.☞TESTER TIP: It's not a specific thickness, such as 1/16 or 1/8 inch, that you want to look for with the dough. Rather, it's when the dough becomes so thin as to be almost transparent. That's when you know it's at the proper place. And don't worry about attaining a perfect circular shape. These are intended to be rustic.
• Place each torta on a baking sheet and lightly brush with some beaten egg white. Lightly dust the dough first with confectioners' sugar and then a little raw sugar.
• Bake for 5 to 12 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Watch the tortas closely as they can burn in seconds.
• Immediately transfer the tortas to wire racks to cool and crisp. Devour warm or at room temperature. The tortas will crumble into flaky loveliness as you take a bite, and will then quickly dissolve into sweet nothingness within seconds. So lovely.

SPANISH TORTAS DE ACEITE

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, anise seeds, sesame seeds, orange zest, yeast, and salt together in large bowl.
• Stir in oil and 2/3 cup water to make soft dough. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and let dough rise 1 to 2 hours, or until doubled in size.
• Preheat oven to 425°F Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread remaining 1/2 cup sugar on plate.
• Divide dough into 16 equal pieces. Flatten each piece into small circle, and pull edges together toward center. Pinch to form ball with taut top to press out any air bubbles, and let rest 5 minutes.
• Roll each ball into 6-inch circle. Press each circle on one side into sugar, and place sugar-side-up on baking sheet.
• Bake 14-16 minutes, or until deep golden and crisp. Cool on wire rack, and keep stored in airtight container.

TORTAS DE ACEITE Y ANíS

Steps:

• Measure the flour and put in a bowl.
• Add the liquid ingredients and mix well.
• Mix in the other dry ingredients, except for the 1/4 cup sugar to be used for dredging, and knead for just a couple of minutes.
• Cover the dough and let rise until doubled in size. The amount of time required will depend on the yeast and the dough temperature, but probably about 1.5 hours.
• Preheat a convection oven to 375. A standard oven to about 400 degrees.
• Place parchment paper on your baking sheet.
• When dough has doubled, punch it down to deflate it.
• Pinch off plum sized balls of dough, and roll into circles about 8 inches across and 1/8 inch thick.
• Note: Don't worry about using flour on the countertop, the oil will be oozing from every pore of the dough and it won't stick to anything.
• Put the sugar for dredging on a plate.
• Dredge one side of the torta by laying it on the plate of sugar.
• Place torta sugar side up, onto the parchment covered baking sheet.
• Bake tortas about 10 minutes. You will want to watch as they get close to the end to make sure they don't get too dark.
• Remove tortas from the baking sheet and cool them on a rack.
• Eat and enjoy!